®COPYRIGHT
2000 THE ESAB GROUP, INC. LESSON
VI 4. The
deposition rate of solid wires is very high when compared to that of coated elec-
trodes, but is somewhat lower than
the deposition rate of flux cored electrodes. 6.4 AWS
SPECIFICATION A5.18-93 6.4.0.1
This AWS specification is entitled
Specification for
Carbon Steel
Filler Metals
for Gas
Shielded Arc
Welding. It covers bare carbon steel solid
wires for use with the GMAW and
GTAW processes. It differs from the AWS specifications in the previous lessons
in that it classifies
the chemical composition of the wire rather than that of the weld metal. It
does, however,
classify the mechanical properties of the weld metal in the as-welded condition
using the gas
metal arc welding process. 6.4.0.2
The chemical composition requirements
are based on the chemical analysis of the as-manufactured
wire or filler metal and include the elements in the coating or copper plating
applied by the manufacturer.
6.4.0.3 The
letter-number designations in
this specification are shown in Figure 4. For
example, ER70S-3 indicates an electrode
or welding rod (ER) that will produce
weld metal of a minimum 70,000 psi
tensile strength (70); is a solid bare wire
or welding rod (S); of a specific chemical
composition (3) as shown in Figure
5. For a complete chemical composition
of these wires, see AWS A5.18-93. ELECTRODE
OR WELDING ROD MIN.
TENSILE STRENGTH X 1000 psi E
R X X S - X CHEMICAL
COMPOSITION BARE
SOLID ELECTRODE OR ROD LETTER
- NUMBER DESIGNATIONS CARBON
AND LOW ALLOY STEEL WIRES FIGURE
4 DEPOSITION EFFICIENCIES
- GAS METAL ARC WELDING CARBON
AND LOW ALLOY STEEL WIRES FIGURE
3 Shielding Gas
Efficiency Range
Average Efficiency
Pure CO 2
88% - 95% 93%
75% Ar - 94%
- 98% 96%
25% CO 2
98% Ar - 2% O
2
97% - 98.5% 98%
